Thrift Schooling

No matter how much I plan ahead in my homeschooling, whenever I come to Thanksgiving and Christmas time I tend to put everything on hold and focus on the meaning behind the season at hand! I have heard of many parents who completely take these two months off from their usual curriculum and just spend it teaching on Thanksgiving and Christmas!  This year, I don't plan on completely taking a break from everything but, during these months I do want to slow down a bit and hold off on our current history lessons. I already have cute Christmas activities planned for December leading up to Christmas that will be a spin-off of what I did last year, but for Thanksgiving I look forward to trying the Golden Prairie Press Countdown to Thanksgiving !  Earlier this year I reviewed their Heroes and Heroines of the Past . I was impressed with how much my children retained from these lessons! A few weeks ago, a visiting Pastor was sharing in church and mentioned the Green Mount...

I'm super excited to share with you my review of Lilla Rose Hair Accessories in a couple weeks! This is a product I'm just thrilled about! Also wanted to let you know about a QUICK TWO DAY SALE that is going on right now! Visit Lilla Rose to receive 10% off of holiday styles and FREE shipping on order over $40.  Have a Happy Weekend! Disclaimer: This post contains my unique Lilla Rose party link. Thanks!

Their Name Is Today  by Johann Chistoph Arnold is an inspiring read for parents with children of all ages. The author addresses issues that children are facing in our society that has been kept quiet for too long. I appreciate this book because of the background and experience of the author. Raised in South America with no TV, electronics or media he was raised in a way that many homeschoolers only dream of providing for their children here in America!  Bombarded with media, electronics and the like, American children are forced to become a product of what they have seen through their little eyes. If they are filled with hands-on experiences in nature, then they can grow and thrive from these opportunities. If they are surrounded by propaganda, advertisements and an outside agenda coming through the media then it is no wonder that children these days have no problem accepting homosexual behavior and violence as normal.  Whether it’s reading, Heather has two ...

As parents, I know we all fall guilty, at one point or another of giving in to our kids whims. Let's face it, even from the time they are little it's so much easier to simply give them that cookie they are begging for than firmly saying, no, (in love of course). It's just, if we choose to give in when they are little, how long are we going to keep on giving in? When they are school age? Pre-teens? Teenagers?  I know, there are days when I am simply exhausted and those are usually the times when I give in. The problem is, I KNOW what is the right thing to do, most of the time, it's just having the STRENGTH to do it! In terms of homeschooling, many days (especially Mondays) it is a battle of the will. The children have just come from two days of having off from school so they are thinking about the fun things they would rather be doing instead of their schoolwork! The daydreams of riding their bikes or whittling with their pocket knives interrupt their time for lear...

If you are looking for a cute stocking stuffer this year, I found a really fun and practical non-toy idea! Sometimes it's easy to stick with the same old ideas year after year but sometimes I like to break out of the box and try something new.  I was able to try out Label Daddy's online label making system recently and ordered these really fun Marvel inspired zipper pulls!  The way it worked was, I signed up for FREE on their website Labeldaddy.com. Then I searched for what type of label I wanted. It took me a while to decide if I wanted stickers for his belongings, (he loves to label HIS books to differentiate between his and his siblings,) or if I wanted tags for his clothes. I finally found customizable zipper pulls and thought that would be PERFECT!    I could choose between different Marvel characters, NFL teams or different unique images. As you can see, I stuck with the Spiderman theme to match his bedroom set! I haven't taken th...

Enjoying the Fall Foliage from my back deck! This week has been jammed packed with fall activities since the beautiful fall colors are presently at their peak! We started the week by raking leaves with a group of homeschoolers in the area.  The kids had the time of their lives piling the leaves high, making forts, jumping in, driving through them with golf carts and using their imagination in the great outdoors. That was Monday. Every single day after that, I simply refused to stay indoors and made piles of excuses as to why we had to be outside! From picking leaves and identifying them to finding Lion's Mane mushrooms in the woods, we were outdoors a majority of the week! I adore this season! The kids do too, but of course they are not ignorant of what season is coming up! They know that Christmas is on the way since we keep talking about visiting relatives that they haven't seen in for.ev.er. (They are super excited!) And, when thinking about Christmas, I n...

The following is a guest review on The New American Herbal from my husband, Noah. I own many books written about herbs and most of them are frustratingly vague or lacking clear  pictures. However, this book contains piles of useful information and hundreds of pictures. This book  covers recipes, growing tips, medicinal uses, culinary uses, preservation and historical information. The only complaint I could come up with is that some of the pictures are a little on the artsy side focusing more on aesthetics than a clear photo for identification use.  The sheer number of vivid pictures makes  up for it.   This book is like sitting down and chatting with an herbalist. It’s packed full of herbal knowledge.    It is written in such a way to be extremely informative and captivatingly interesting. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in herbs. You will not be disappointed.   More Info Author Bio Disclaimer: ...